The Widow of Nain

Scripture: Luke 7:11-15 (NLT)

¹¹ Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. ¹² A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. ¹⁴ Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” ¹⁵ Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Devotion:

            As we approach this Easter season let us meditate on the stories of Jesus raising the dead. Today’s events happen in a small out of the way town called Nain. If we know little about Nazareth where Jesus grew up, we know even less about Nain. It is mentioned only here in our bibles. Luke does provide us with the scene for the drama that follows.

            As Jesus was entering the town with his followers, a funeral procession is leaving town. Jews never buried their dead inside a town or city. Somehow Jesus became aware that the deceased was the only son of a widow. In Israel at the time a widow was vulnerable, and poverty stricken. If she had a son at least she would have some means of support.

            Jesus sees this situation and is moved with compassion. Here is Jesus meeting a woman he does not even know personally, but he knows that her situation is dire. There was no work for a widow to do to earn money in that culture. She was now to be utterly at the mercy of the kindness of others even to have daily food.

            Jesus knows he alone has the power to help this poor widow out, so he moved by compassion stops the funeral procession. He places his hand on the bier and commands (the verb is imperative) the boy to get up. And that is just what the boy does. He begins speaking and Jesus takes him off of the funeral bier and gives him back to his mother. Who must have been overjoyed. Indeed, the verses following the reading above indicate that the whole town was amazed by what Jesus has just done.

            This scene speaks to the compassion and love our God has for all of us. No matter what tragedy strikes us we can rest assured in his love. Jesus bringing this child back to life is but a dim foreshadowing of his own death and resurrection. When the God of the universe would undo death’s curse forever. God will on that last day declare that all the universe belongs to him and demand worship from all his creation. Let us pray for that day to come quickly.

Prayer:

            Lord, you have dominion over the greatest of our enemies, death. We thank you for the way you have defeated death, so that we may never need to fear death again. We praise you because of your mighty power that can even conquer the grave. We pray that our own death may be a cause for great celebration because all will know that we have entered heaven with you. We your humble servants await our turn to go to heaven with you. Amen.